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The Mercedes Benz steering mounted gear shifter gets lots of flak and misunderstanding for not being traditional. Let me clear up some misgivings with this post and hopefully help fellow mercedes owners understand and operate their ride with more confidence. The top concern about the gear shifter is accidental activation of gears (due to mistaking it for the signal/wiper stalk). From my understanding of the shifter, it is an electronic shifter with no mechanical link to the transmission. That fact allows the Mercedes engineers to program in failsafe guards to ensure safety and protect the transmission. At low speed from 0 up to 10kph, the gear shifter is programmed to allow you to go from N to R. It is presumably to facilitate parking situation. See the attached photo I took of my own cluster LCD. Note the arrows. These arrow heads denote that it is possible to shift into these gears indicated. Note the speed. When the speed goes above 10kph, the arrow head at the R position disappear. Meaning you can at most engage N but not R in the event of a mistake. So, yes, you can accidentally engage neutral while you are driving but you will not be able to force the R mode without coming down to a <10kph speed. That will be a deliberate action imho. So, no, your 7G-9Gtronic will not self destruct without your deliberate help.